Traction-engine.



B. 1). HUSTON. TRACTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION IILED MAY 2, 1907.

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I PATENTED DEC. 24 1907. D. HUSTON. TRACTION ENGINE. APPLIOATION FILED MAY 2, 1907.

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EDWARD D. HUSTON, OF OHAPLIN, KENTUCKY.

TRACTION-ENGINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 24, 1907.

Application filed May 2. 1907- Serial No. 371,413.

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD D. HUsToN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chaplin, in the county of Nelson, in the State of Kentucky, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Traction Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to traction-engines, and particularly to those traction-engines adapted to be run by a gasolene or other engine, the shaft of Which is driven in the same direction all the time, and having gearing interposed between the engine-shaft and the axle of the ground or traction-wheels, whereby the machine may be driven forward or backward as desired, and the engine shaft unclutched from the gearing and the power of the engine utilized for other purposes.

The object of the invention is to reduce the number of gears in such a machine, and thereby provide a traction-engine of compact structure and the parts of which are few and therefore easily kept in repair and with little expense.

The invention consists in a traction-engine comprising the details of construction and combination of parts, all as I will proceed now more particularly to set forth and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a plan view. Fig. 2 is a side ele- Fig. 3 is a plan view of the engineshaft and gearing detached, and Fig. 4 is a vertical section, on a larger scale, of one of the fly-wheels and its clutch.

1, 1, are the ground or traction-wheels; 2, the ground or traction-wheel axle, and 3, 3, the front steering-wheels, provided with the usual operating chains 4, 4, and steeringstaff 5, extending to the rear platform 6, in convenient reach of the engineer.

Suitably supported upon the frame of the machine is the engine 7, preferably a gasolene or other internal combustion or explosive engine of any approved construction, having its piston-rod 8, connected with the crank-shaft 9, suitably supported in standards or bearings 10, mounted upon the frame of the machine. Fly-wheels 11' are preferably secured upon the opposite ends of the crank-shaft, and either or both of said flywheels may have a pulley attached thereto upon the outer side, as shown at 12, in Fig. 1. Also secured upon the fly-wheels 11, on the inside, are friction-bands or flanges 13.

Gear-wheels 14 and 15 rigidly secured to or made integral with sleeves 16 are loosely mounted upon the engine-shaft 9, between the fly-wheels 11 and the standards or bearings 10. Mounted upon the sleeves 16 are longitudinally-movable clutch collars 17, having a spline connection with said sleeves 16. Connected to said clutch-collars by means of links 18 are the clutch-members 19, adapted to engage the friction-bands or flanges 13 of the fly-wheels 11. Any suitable form of clutch may be employed instead of that herein shown, and in accordance with this invention the-clutch is provided with fiat springs 20 or any other suitable form of springs for automatically disengaging the clutch when released.

An intermediate shaft 21 suitably mounted in the frame of the machine has rigidly secured to it at one end a gear 22, meshing with an idler-gear 23, (see Fig. 2) suitably j ournaled upon a stud-shaft fixed to the frame, and meshing with the gear 14 on the engine shaft. A gear 24 is loosely mounted upon the opposite end of the intermediate shaft 21 and meshes directly with the gear 15 on the engine-shaft. A spring-actuated clutch 25 is employed to rotatably connect the-gear 24 with its shaft 21.

The gear 22 meshes with a large gear 26, the shaft of which has mounted thereupon a small gear 27 which in turn meshes with a large gear 28 suitably'secured upon the axle of the ground or traction-wheels.

29 is a rock-shaft suitably mounted upon the frame of the machine adjacent the engineers platform and provided with oppositelyextending crank-arms 30 and 31 at its opposite ends and said rock shaft is also provided with an operating-handle 32. Also secured upon the frame of the machine is a segmental rack 33 adapted tobe engaged by a lockinglatch 34, carried by the handle 32.

35 and 36 are bell-crank levers having one arm thereof engaging the clutch-collars 17 and their other arms constructed as knucklejoints and connected by means of rods 37 and 38 with the arms 30 and. 31 respectively of the rock-shaft 29. Also engaging the springclutch 25 on the intermediate shaft 21, is a knuckle-jointed bellcrank 39, having its knuckle-jointed arm connected with the rod 38 by means of an offset connection 40.

The operation of the engine is as follows As shown in Fig. 1, the gearing is'coupled to propel the machine forward, and in order to effect this movement of the machine, the handle 32 is thrown forward, thereby engag ing the clutch upon the right hand side with the fly-wheel of the engine, and causing the gear 14 to rotate with the engine-shaft and through the train of gears 23, 22, 26, 27 and 28 applying the power to the axle of the traction wheels, causing the machine to move forward. During this operation of the machine, the clutch 25 on the intermediate shaft is disengaged, and the gears24 and 1.5 being loose upon their shafts will remain stationary.

If it be desired to propel the machine backward, the handle 32 is drawn backward thereby pulling upon the rod 37 and opening the knuckle-joint of bell-crank 35 and permitting the springs 20 of the clutch 18, 1.9, to eXert their pressure to release the clutch upon the right hand side of the machine. Upon the same movement of the handle, the rod 38 is moved forward thus closing the knuckle-joint of the bell-crank 36 and forcing the clutch upon the left hand side of the machine into engagement with the frictionband of the flywheel on that side of the machine, and also permitting the spring of the movable member of the clutch 25 to force the clutch into engagement with its comple mental member upon the gear 24, and thus by rotation of the gear 15 and through the gear 24, its shaft 21, gears 22, 26, 27 and 28, power is applied to the axle of the tractionwheels to propel the machine backward.

If it be desired to run the engine independently of the propelling gear, and for purposes of operating other machines from pulley 12, it is only necessary to throw the handle 32 to an intermediate position, either from the forward or backward positions, thereby unclutching the several clutches, thus permitting the engine-shaft to turn freely within the gears 14 and 15, and hence the entire gearing of the machine remains at rest during the running of the engine for purposes other than the propulsion of the ma-' chine.

The knuckle-joints for the bell-cranks 35 and .36 and the spring-actuated clutches provide a very effective means for this last described adjustment of the machine. Referring to Fig. 1, with the gearing adjusted for forward movement of the machine, it will be observed that moving the handle to an intermediate position toward the rear of the machine, will pull upon the rod 37 and open the knuckle-joint of bell-crank 35, and thus permit the spring-clutch to disengage the friction-band of the fly-wheel, and at the same time, the movement of the handle will push the rod 38 forward and simply close the knuckle-joint of the bell-crank 36 and will have no effect upon the fiywheel clutch upon this side of the machine, and also by the movement of the rod 38, and its off-set connection 40, the bell-crank 39 is released and permits the spring of clutch 25 to move the clutch into engagement with the clutch member of the gear 24. By these movements of the parts, the entire gearing is unclutched from the engine shaft, and thus the engine kept in operation entirely independent of the propelling gear.

When the machine is running down grade, the propelling gear may be unclutched from the engine shaft and the machine permitted to descend by gravity, but should the machine descend at an undesirable speed, the handle 32 may be pulled rearward and the clutch upon the left hand side of the machine thrown into operation, and through the connection of gears above described for propelling the machine backward, serves as a brake for retarding the speed of the ma chine. By throwing the handle 32 rearward for this purpose, the rod 38 and its off-set connection 40 are moved forward, the rod 37 moved backward, the knucklejoints of the bell-cranks 35 and 39 opening to permit the movements of the rods 37 and 38. So also the clutch upon the right hand side of the machine will serve as a brake to prevent the machine from descending a grade backward, should it be desired to stop the engine when the machine is being propelled up grade.

It will be observed that by the arrangement of gears and theclutches herein shown and described, the number of gears in this class of machines is greatly reduced, that is to say, there are only eight gears employed, two main driving gears on the engine shaft, two gears on the intermediate or reversing shaft with an idler interposed between the engine and intermediate shafts, and three gears for transmitting the power from the intermediate shaft to the driving axle of the machine, and hence the machine is less liable to get out of repair and can be repaired with less trouble and expense, than those machines wherein a large number of gears are employed.

I wish to be understood as not limiting this invention to the particular arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described, as the same may be altered in various particulars and still be within the scope of the invention.

{ What I claim is 2- 1. In a traction-engine, an. engine and its shaft adapted to be driven in the same direction at all times, gear-wheels loosely mounted upon the opposite ends of said shaft, an intermediate shaft arranged between the engine-shaft and the driving-axle, a gear-wheel fast on one end of said intermediate shaft and an idler interposed between said gear-wheel and one of the gearwheels upon one side of the engine-shaft, a gear-wheel loosely mounted upon the other end of said intermediate shaft and directly engaging the gear-wheel upon the other side of the engine-shaft, a train of gears interposed between the fixed gear-wheel on the intermediate shaft and the driving-axle, and means for clutching and unclutching the loose gears alternately upon opposite sides of the engine-shaft, whereby the machine may be propelled backward or forward as desired.

2. In a traction-engine, an engine and its shaft adapted to be driven in the same direction at all times, gear-wheels having outwardly extending sleeves loosely mounted upon the engine-shaft upon opposite ends thereof, clutches splined to said sleeves and adapted to engage the fly-wheels of the engine-shaft, an intermediate shaft arranged between the engine-shaft and the drivingaxle of the machine, a gear-wheel fixed to one end of said intermediate shaft and an idler interposed between said gear-wheel and one of the gear-wheels of the engine-shaft, a gear-whee1 loosely mounted upon the other end of the intermediate shaft and directly engaging the gear-wheel upon the opposite end of the engineshaft, a train of gears in terposed between the fixed gear-wheel on the intermediate shaft and the driving-axle, and means for alternately shifting the clutches upon opposite sides of the machine to effect their engagement with the fly-wheels of the engine to propel the machine forward or backward as desired, and means for maintaining both of said clutches disengaged from the fly-wheels whereby the engine may be driven independently of all of said gear- Wheels.

3. In a traction-engine, an engine and its shaft adapted to be driven in the same direction at all times, gear-wheels loosely mounted upon opposite ends of said shaft, clutches for alternately engaging said gear-wheels with the fly-wheels of said shaft, an intermediate shaft arranged between the engine-shaft and the driving-axle, a gear-wheel fixed to one end of said intermediate shaft and an idler interposed between said gear-wheel and one of the gears on the engine-shaft, a gear-wheel loosely mounted upon the opposite end of said intermediate shaft and directly engag ing the gear-wheel upon the other end of the engine-shaft, a clutch for locking said loosely mounted gear-wheel to the intermediate shaft, a train of gear-wheels interposed between the fixed gear-wheel of the intermediate shaft and the driving-axle of the machine, means for alternately shifting the clutches upon opposite sides of the machine to propel the machine either forward or backward as desired, and means for maintaining the several clutches in unclutched position whereby the engine and its shaft may be driven entirely independently of the propelling gears.

4. In a traction-engine, an engine and its shaft adapted to be driven in the same direction at all times, gear-wheels loosely mounted upon opposite ends of said shaft, spring-actuated clutches for alternately engaging said gear-wheels with the flywheels of said shaft,

an intermediate shaft arranged between the engine-shaft and the driving-axle, a gear wheel fixed to one end of said intermediate shaft and an idler interposed between said gear-wheel and one of the gears on the engine-shaft, a gear-wheel loosely mounted upon the opposite end of said intermediate shaft and directly engaging the gear-wheel upon the other end of the engineshaft, a springactuated clutch for locking said loosely mounted gear-wheel to the interme diate shaft, a train of gear-wheels interposed between the fixed gear-wheel of the intermediate shaft and the driving-axle of the machine, means for alternately shifting the said spring-actuated clutches upon opposite sides of the machine to propel the machine either forward or backward as desired, and means for maintaining the several spring-actuated clutches in unclutched position whereby the engine and its shaft may be driven entirely independently of the propelling gears.

5. In a traction-engine, an engine and its shaft adapted to be driven in the same direction at all times, gearwheels loosely mounted upon opposite ends of said shaft, spring-actuated clutches for alternately engaging said gear-wheels with the fly-wheels of said shaft, an intermediate shaft arranged between the engine-shaft and the driving-axle, a gearwheel fixed to one end of said'intermediate shaft and an idler interposed between said gear-wheel and one of the gears on the engineshaft, a gear-wheel loosely mounted upon the opposite'end of said intermediate shaft and directly engaging the gear-wheel upon the other end of the engine-shaft, a spring actuated clutch for locking said loosely mounted gear-wheel to the intermediate shaft, a train of gear-wheels interposed between the fixed gear-wheel of the intermediate shaft and the driving-axle of the maand its shaft may be driven entirely inde- 10 chine, knuckle-jointed bell-crank levers and pendently of the propelling gears. means for operating them for shifting said In testimony whereof I have hereunto set spring-actuated clutches to alterngtrily lock my hand this 10 day of April 1907.

5 the ear-wheels with the en ine-s a t u on oppd site sides of the maohirie to propel ihe EDWARD HUSTON' machine either forward or backward and Vitnesses: permitting the several clutches to remain in A. NOEL RUSH, an unelutched position whereby the engine HENRY W. BEDFORD. 

